SLAF misfire wounds two in Katunayake airbase

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 October 2007, 08:43 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) airmen were wounded in an accidental gunfire at the Katunayake airbase Friday morning around 6:30.
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Ambassador Boucher arrives in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 May 2007, 20:05 GMT]
Ambassador Richard Boucher, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Affairs in the US government arrived in Colombo Tuesday afternoon around 3:00 p.m. on a three day visit to Sri Lanka. US embassy officials in Colombo received him at the Katunayake international airport.
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Katunayake international airport to be shut down at night

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 May 2007, 19:36 GMT]
The Katunayake International Airport, the main airport in the island is to be shut down for civilian air traffic during nights between 10.30 p.m. till 4:30 am from May 10, according to Sri Lanka's civil aviation sources. The restriction is being instituted as a temporary security measure and no passenger planes will be allowed to land or leave between these hours
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SLAF bomber shot over Ira'naimadu

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 April 2007, 11:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force's (SLAF's) aircraft on a bombing raid south of Ira'naimadu in Vannai around 2:45 p.m. spewed large cloud of smoke after a explosion and the jet suspended the bombing raid struggling to maintain height, traders in Kilinochchi who saw the troubled aircraft said. Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports from Colombo said a Israeli-built fast attack Kfir which took off from Katunayake Air Force base Monday has failed to return to the base.


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SLAF MI24 crashes in Anuradhapura

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 April 2007, 05:58 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) helicopter gunship, MI 24, that took off from Anurdhapura airbase following the reports of unidentified aircraft over Puttalam sea Thursday night, crashed into a private land adjoining the airforce base at 10:55 p.m.
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Attack alarm sparks airport panic, Colombo in dark

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 April 2007, 17:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) personnel at Katunayake airbase fired precautionary shots into the air as an alarm was issued in Colombo that two unidentified aircrafts were observed over Puttalam sea Thursday around 11:00 p.m. All flights were grounded and power supply in Colombo city was cut off. The situation resumed normal Thursday midnight.
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Paris Tamils in walking vigil, urge release of Tamil activists

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 April 2007, 05:28 GMT]
Around 2000 French Tamils marched in Paris Wednesday afternon in a silent walking vigil, organized by French Tamil Students Forum. Demonstrants carrying placards stating "we are not terrorists," gathered at place de la République at 3:00 p.m. and walked towards Place de Bastille where a meeting was held.
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Tiger aircrafts bomb Palaali military base

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 April 2007, 22:09 GMT]
Two attack aircraft of the Liberation Tigers bombed the Sri Lankan military’s main base complex in the Jaffna peninsula in the early hours of Tuesday morning, inflicting heavy damage and casualties, LTTE military spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan told TamilNet. Tamileelam Air Force bombers had hit an Engineering Unit of the complex and a military storage, the Tigers spokesman claimed. Meanwhile sources said continuous explosions were heard from inside the High Security Zone for five hours after the air raid. Military sources in Colombo confirmed that at least 6 of their personnel were killed. Informed military sources said more than 30 troopers were wounded the attack inside the HSZ.
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Unidentified aircraft over Jaffna town

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 April 2007, 18:23 GMT]
An unidentified aircraft flew over parts of government-controlled Jaffna just after dusk Monday, residents in the northern peninsula said. The aircraft passed low over Jaffna city centre and parts of Vadaramadchchi North and Valikamam sectors. Sri Lankan troops in some areas doused the lights of their camps as the aircraft approached, fuelling suspicions it was one of those operated by the Tamil Tigers, they said.
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Indian High Commission's vehicle hijacked, driver released after torture

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 April 2007, 06:29 GMT]
A diplomatic van belonging to the Indian High Commission, on it's way to receive a diplomat from the International Airport in Colombo, was hijacked and the driver of the vehicle, S. Vishvanathan, was abducted by two attackers Monday midnight in Seeduwa Police area, southeast of Katunayake International Airport. The driver, badly beaten by the attackers, lost his two teeth and released around 4:00 a.m. Tuesday, Police said.
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Thousands of Tamils defy Paris protest bar

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 April 2007, 22:37 GMT]
Over 2,000 Tamil expatriates gathered in front of the Eiffel Tower Monday, despite the authorities’ cancellation of a planned protest rally to condemn the arrests by French police of several Tamil activists for raising funds for the LTTE. The protestors gathered in nearby public places, blocking traffic. Although the protest’s cancellation had been publicised on Tamil radio and television by the rally’s organisers who told expatriates that permission would be sought anew, several thousand people converged on the city centre, defying orders to disperse, to condemn the arrests on April 1, a week after the LTTE airstrike on Katunayake.
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UNP holds awareness meetings on current political, security situation

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 April 2007, 10:40 GMT]
Mr.Tissa Attanayake, parliamentarian and UNP general secretary addressing a meeting held in Colombo New Town Hall Saturday evening, asked the Sri Lanka government why it has not nullified the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) if the Government thinks CFA offers no benefit. UNP has been conducting a series of awareness meetings to brief the people about the current political and security situations in Sri Lanka.
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Peace talks, only path to resolve ethnic conflict-Wickremasinghe

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 April 2007, 10:53 GMT]
Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) said in parliament Tuesday that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has proved its might with recent air strike on Katunayake air base that it has the capability of attacking any target in the country. He said that the ethnic conflict should be resolved through peace talks and not by military means, parliamentary sources said.
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US responds to LTTE airstrike

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 April 2007, 08:37 GMT]
Asked for the United States’ reaction to the LTTE airstrike on the military airbase at Katunayake last Monday, the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Robert O’ Blake said: “The LTTE’s successful deployment of an offensive air capability is a matter of great concern.” He told Sri Lanka’s state-owned Daily News: “We do not believe there can be a military solution to this conflict. Rather, both sides should cease hostilities so talks can take place on a negotiated settlement.” He also said that the US “does not perceive a specific threat to our citizens who intend to travel to the tourist areas.”
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Rajapakse wants referendum on abolishing CFA – state media

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 April 2007, 13:41 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse plans to hold a referendum to decide whether the Sri Lankan government should continue to abide by the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA), state media reported Sunday, quoting “a high ranking official of the Presidential Secretariat.” The official was quoted by the Sunday Observer as saying “President Rajapaksa is keen to obtain a fresh mandate from the people on the CFA. The President is interested in looking at the proposed abolition of the CFA in a 'democratic manner', enabling the voters to decide on the fate of the CFA.”
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Katunayake airstrike: human capital, gathered against the odds

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 April 2007, 03:23 GMT]
Asserting that Monday’s airstrike on Katunayake “indicates a quantum leap in the LTTE’s technological base,” Professor Kumar David, an engineering specialist, argues Sunday that “the LTTE’s aviation technology is far behind that of the Sri Lanka Air force..that it has taken the first step is quite telling.” In a op-ed in The Island, he cautions Colombo that the human capital gathered against massive odds by the LTTE renders a military solution unviable. Meanwhile, a columnist in the Tamil Guardian points out the LTTE acquired the know-how and materials for an air force in the harshest international climate for armed movements.
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Eleven Tamil civilians arrested in Kohuwela

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 March 2007, 10:55 GMT]
The Dehiwala Police took eleven Tamil civilians including two women into custody in a sudden cordon and search operation conducted Friday night at Kohuwela area, a suburb of Colombo. All of the arrested are natives of NorthEast, and had been staying with relatives and friends, sources said.
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Launch all-out war on LTTE, PNM tells Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 March 2007, 02:59 GMT]
The National Patriotic Movement (NPM) urged the President Mahinda Rajapakse to conduct an all-out war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), sources in Colombo said. before it l "We should attack before the LTTE launches an air strike on Temple Trees residence in Colombo. No country has condemned the air strike by LTTE on country's main military air base in Katunayake," said NPM leader Venerable Dambara Amila Thera addressing a press briefing held Thursday in Sri Lanka Foundation Institute hall.
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Air-strike, a warning to SLAF- Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 March 2007, 13:25 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Political Head S.P. Thamilchelvan, stating that the air strike by the Tigers on the nerve centre of the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) in Katunayake was "a one hundred percent successful mission," Thursday told media in Kilinochchi that the "precision air strike" by the Tigers on the SLAF was a "clear message" to the Sri Lankan state, to end the sustained bombardment of the Tamil homeland. "Within the last 6 months alone, the Sri Lankan Air Force has carried out at least 2 sorties every other day for more than 90 days. Hundreds of Tamil civilians have been killed, many wounded, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced due to the repeated bombardment," he added
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SL Govt rejects UNP request to summon parliament

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 March 2007, 02:59 GMT]
The Sri Lanka government has rejected the request made by Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP), to summon the parliament to debate the current security situation of the island in the wake of the air strike carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on the Katunayake air base, parliamentary sources said.
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